discrepancy

noun

dis·​crep·​an·​cy di-ˈskre-pən-sē 

plural discrepancies

1

: the quality or state of disagreeing or being at variance

2

: an instance of disagreeing or being at variance

Synonyms

• contrast
• difference
• disagreement
• disparateness
• disparity
• dissimilarity
• dissimilitude
• distance
• distinction
• distinctiveness
• distinctness
• diverseness
• diversity
• otherness
• unlikeness

Examples of discrepancy in a Sentence

Dr. Derman, who spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs and became managing director, was a forerunner of the many physicists and other scientists who have flooded Wall Street in recent years, moving from a world in which a discrepancy of a few percentage points in a measurement can mean a Nobel Prize or unending mockery to a world in which a few percent one way can land you in jail and a few percent the other way can win you your own private Caribbean island. —Dennis Overbye, New York Times, 9 Mar. 2009

Why the difference? Why are some individuals so outwardly altered by time and others not? Or, in other words, why is there often a discrepancy between chronological age and biological age? —Time, 17 Oct. 2005

If an article is on one machine but not the other, a copy is made to eliminate the discrepancy. —Simson Garfinkel, Technology Review, November 2001

The discrepancy can't be written off simply as lack of data, because it shows up in one of the best-studied periods in Earth's history … —Tim Appenzeller, Science, 12 Feb. 1993

Discrepancies in the firm's financial statements led to an investigation.

There were discrepancies between their accounts of the accident.

Recent Examples on the Web

The direct sunlight can cause these materials to prematurely fade, causing a significant discrepancy between the parts of the room that are exposed to the direct sunlight and the parts that remain mostly in the shade. —Timothy Dale, Better Homes & Gardens, 8 May 2025

Patel was pressed on the discrepancy by House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). —Ashley Oliver, The Washington Examiner, 7 May 2025

The reason for this discrepancy is unclear—but could point to issues with some of the assumptions presently made in stellar modeling. —Ian Randall, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 May 2025

The draft report also noted documentation gaps and calculation concerns related to the building’s structural behavior and design coordination, including discrepancies in column schedules, mechanical equipment loads and masonry wall support, among other concerns. —Susannah Bryan, Sun Sentinel, 6 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

earlier discrepance in same sense (borrowed from Latin discrepantia, derivative of discrepant-, discrepans, present participle of discrepāre "to differ in sound, be out of tune, be inconsistent") + -ancy — more at discrepant

First Known Use

1579, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

discrepancy

noun

dis·​crep·​an·​cy dis-ˈkrep-ən-sē 

plural discrepancies

1

: the quality or state of being different : disagreement

a great discrepancy between the two reports

2

: something that is different or that disagrees

discrepancies in the firm's financial statements